This paper seeks to reconstruct and revitalize the famous Hirschman framework by providing a comprehensive review of the current use of 'exit, voice and loyalty'. We begin by critically examining Hirchman's original account, and then look at the way his argument has been extended in different fields both conceptually and empirically. We suggest that while advances have been made, the results so far are somewhat disappointing given the perceptiveness of the original insight. We believe this is because his apparently simple schema is more complex than it first appears, and different aspects of exit, of voice, and of empirical foundations of loyalty need to be analytically distinguished in order to produce testable empirical hypotheses about their relationships.

This paper is the first attempt to estimate the determinants of holiday-taking across several countries. To accomplish this a two-stage estimation procedure is employed which enables incongruous income categories to be transformed into a single income variable. It is found that in the mid-1980s there was a substantial similarity in the holiday taking behaviour of Europeans. The large national differences in holiday participation are explained by differences in income and demographic factors. A remarkable regularity in the responsiveness of the probability of holiday taking to marginal changes in income is found.

This article examines whether greater fragmentation in local government improves efficiency. Tiebout (1956) "exiting" is the general theoretical underpinning for the belief that fragmentation should improve efficiency. The article argues that previous evidence for the greater efficiency of fragmented government is weak because the complex nature of many local government systems is not consistent with the institutional structures supposed in the models and does not allow for simple testing. Using evidence from England where institutional structures more closely resemble those in the Tiebout model, efficiency is analyzed both at the jurisdictional and metropolitan level in a straightforward manner. No evidence for the supposed positive effects of fragmentation is found. Voice mechanisms may explain why fiscal mobility does not lead to efficiency in the fragmented system of metropolitan England.

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Executive SummaryMany people do not seem to take advantage of the welfare system.Of the working poor who qualify for welfare, two thirds of those eligible for food stamps and one-third of those eligible for AFDC do not receive these benefits.Those who qualified for assistance were in their prime working years --between 25 and 45.Thus they were not "marginal" workers who were too young or old to be attached to the labor force.Those who qualified for assistance worked many hours: Most of those who qualified for food stamps worked full time. Most of those who qualified for AFDC worked at least half-time.Most of those who qualified for AFDC or food stamps had high school degrees or greater.Many of those who qualified for AFDC or food stamps were in married couple families:For food stamps, almost half of those who qualified were in married couple families; one third of those who qualified for AFDC were in married couple families.Thus the portrait of the eligible working poor was not one of marginal workers, either disproportionately younger or older workers, or workers who are otherwise out of the ordinary. Most were in their prime working years, most worked many hours, most had decent educations, and many were married.